Razorback Athletics again in Learfield top 20

Arkansas ranks fourth in the Southeastern Conference and No. 17 overall in the latest 2024-25 Learfield Directors’ Cup Standings released on Thursday (April 10) by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of America (NACDA).

The Directors’ Cup tracks the nation’s intercollegiate athletics programs for their performance throughout the year and has been doing so since 1993-94.

Arkansas earned 497.2 points and is one of nine league programs in the top 25 of the initial standings. The standings released Thursday included men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s cross-country, fencing, women’s field hockey, football, women’s hockey, rifle, men’s and women’s soccer, skiing, men’s and women’s swimming, men’s and women’s indoor track and field, women’s volleyball, men’s water polo, and wrestling.

Arkansas has secured a top-20 national finish in the standings in four consecutive years. The streak marks the first time in school history the Razorbacks have finished among the nation’s top 20 programs in four-straight final standings. Arkansas finished No. 18 in 2023-24, following a 13th-place finish in 2022-23, a seventh-place finish in 2021-22 and an eighth-place finish in 2020-21.

Arkansas has won eight NCAA titles and 38 Southeastern Conference team championships in the past seven years, including 20 conference titles in the past four years alone. The conference championship totals lead all SEC programs, and the Razorbacks’ 38 titles are more than six other league programs combined in that same time frame.

Helping boost the points for the year was the men’s basketball program. Coach John Calipari’s team made a run into the NCAA Tournament advancing to the Sweet 16. The Razorbacks earned 64 Directors’ Cup points for the tournament run.